Helping Others

So I went and did some helping others the day before my 44th birthday. Habitat for Humanity was doing a house raising as my best friend called it and I like the term and will be using it to refer to what we are doing on a build site. The person who owns the home was is a single woman with children that she has raised that no longer live with her. She was at the sight and pounded in the first nail followed by many more. She was a treat to get to see and visit with. We all had out picture taken with her and you could tell some of us had never done this before and that it was a new experience. Some of the folks at the job sight were old hands at it and seemed as if this had become a job for them. Some folks you could tell spent their day in an office and were way outside their comfort zone swinging a hammer.

We started nailing color coded boards together and before you knew it we were standing up walls and we were all amazed at the speed with which all the walls in the house went up. We framed a house in 3 hours. I was standing in the driveway with a friend and said some people sit on an airplane for hours going to far off lands to feel like they are making a difference. I know that it takes all of us doing what we do and that we are all connected. Some time during the morning we were all lifting a long wall up to get it over the plumbing pipes and we all commented at the same time that it takes a village and this brought to mind the way people used to come together to raise a barn after a neighbor lost theirs to fire or right after someone built their house.

In America we still have 10 percent of the population looking for work. We have 30% of home owners owing more on their homes than they are worth. We have the stock holders making all the money while the person working at the money end of the business is barley getting by. I am lucky to be able to help others and expect nothing in return. I am also very lucky to have friends and co-workers who will come and join me in these little projects that come across my mind. Christina thanks for saying I want to do something with Habitat and then bringing folks along. Mel you are one of a kind dear. You knew that this was going to affect the way you felt for days to come and did it anyway. Ms Britt you came out and did not give up on getting the nails in even if we had to re-nail them. Peggy you are a God send to me I know in my mind that whatever happens to me in this life I can come to you and you will let me know that “mother fucker it will be all right don’t worry about the small shit and its all small shit.” Kelly you are a spiritual giant and I admire you for the peace you exude and by being around you I get to have a little too. Mr. C. Roy you are a gift to many people and sometimes I don’t think you know this.

No matter where I am within a few miles of me are people whom I can take a little action and make a huge difference in their lives there by doing the same for mine. May whatever you look to in this life for guidance keep you safe, provide you with peace and hold you in whatever warm place offends you the least.

Good Luck!